Our first time: two higher education tutors reflect on becoming a ‘virtual teacher’

Abstract

The rapid development of the Internet as a means of both information distribution and social communication seems to be carrying with it a growing imperative for tertiary institutions to put teacher education, like many other things, ‘online’. Often this is done in the name of offering teacher training to distant students who would otherwise not be able to undertake such study. Sometimes it is done in the name of ‘growing’ the financial base of the institution. Sometimes it is done in the name of teacher or learner convenience, or more efficient use of lecturer or student time. But increasingly it is also becoming done in the name not just of more accessible, but of qualitatively improved pedagogy—or in a higher education context should one talk of andragogy? This paper reports some action research we conducted on our own initial experiences of incorporating ‘online’ elements into our respective teacher education courses. They have been experiences which have seen us confront issues which go well beyond technical questions of how to teach in a virtual environment, to encompass more value‐laden self‐enquiries about why we should, and the relationship, if there is to be one, between virtual teaching and virtuous teaching.